New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stated that it will not proceed with the 2G spectrum case until the accused, including Swan Telecom’s Shahid Usman Balwa, completes the plantation drive.
The judicature listed the matter for further hearing on October 24. The decision from the High Court came after the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) appealed against the court’s judgement in the case. On March 6, the Delhi High Court granted partial relief to Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa and four others who were seeking exemption from planting 15,000 trees.
The Delhi High Court had asked them to plant 3,000 trees each in Delhi’s South Ridge forest area as punishment for not filing responses on agency appeal challenging their acquittal in the 2G case, despite repeated reminders The five respondents are Shahid Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom Private Limited and Rajeev Agarwal, director of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Private Limited and three companies — Dynamic Realty, DB Realty Limited and Nihar Constructions Private Limited. The alleged scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum license allocations in 2007-08, which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the public exchequer.
